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The Eurovision Song Contest 2019 will be the 64th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. The contest is scheduled to take place in Tel Aviv, Israel, following Israel's victory at the 2018 contest in Lisbon, Portugal, with the song "Toy", performed by Netta. The contest will be held at Expo Tel Aviv, the city's convention centre; the show will consist of two semi-finals on 14 and 16 May, and the final on 18 May 2019.4 Forty-one countries will take part in the contest, with Bulgaria and Ukraine absent,5 both for the first time since 2015. Location The 2019 contest will take place in Israel for the third time, after 1979 and 1999, following the country's victory at the 2018 edition with the song "Toy", performed by Netta Barzilai.6 Venue The contest will take place at Expo Tel Aviv's 7,300-seat7 congress and convention centre called "Bitan 2" (Pavilion 2), which was inaugurated in January 2015.48 Located on Rokach Boulevard in northern Tel Aviv, the convention centre serves as a venue for many different events, including concerts, exhibitions, trade fairs, and conferences. The fairground has ten halls and pavilions, plus a large outdoor space. The new pavilion hosted the 2018 European Judo Championships from 26–28 April.9 Locations of the candidate cities in Israel: the eliminated cities are marked in red, with the shortlisted cities in green and the chosen host city in blue. After Israel's victory in Lisbon, Portugal, Netta Barzilai and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that the 2019 contest would be held in Jerusalem, but this was yet to be confirmed by the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation (IPBC/KAN) and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).610 Israeli finance minister Moshe Kahlon also stated in an interview that the event would be solely held in Jerusalem and estimated its cost at 120 million Israeli shekels (approximately €29 million).11 The mayor of Jerusalem, Nir Barkat, mentioned Jerusalem Arena and Teddy Stadium as possible venues to host the event.12 The municipality of Jerusalem had also confirmed that the contest would not be held at the International Convention Centre, which hosted the Eurovision Song Contest 1979 and 1999, due to its insufficient capacity.13 On 18 June 2018, Prime Minister Netanyahu stated that Israel had committed to remaining in compliance with EBU rules regarding the constitution of member broadcasters, so as not to affect its hosting of Eurovision. The IPBC's establishment included a condition that news programming would later be delegated to a second public broadcasting entity, which violates EBU rules requiring member broadcasters to have their own internal news departments.1415 On 19 June 2018, Israel was officially confirmed as the host country,16 and on 24 June 2018, KAN formally opened the bidding process for cities interested in hosting the 2019 contest.17 On 28 July 2018, Israeli Minister Michael Oren, who is closely connected to Prime Minister Netanyahu, stated that Jerusalem did not have the resources to host the contest, restating the common talking point that Tel Aviv was the more likely host.18 Soon afterwards, reports surfaced of the government not providing the €12 million downpayment requested by KAN to cover hosting expenses and security, but a compromise was reached on 29 July 2018.19 Following a tense back-and-forth between KAN and the government, a compromise between the two parties was reached that would see KAN paying the €12 million to the EBU and the Finance Ministry covering expenses should complications arise. The Mayor of Tel Aviv announced that the city would be willing to pay for the Convention Center itself, should it be chosen as the host city.20 In the week of 27 August 2018, executive supervisor/scrutineer Jon Ola Sand led a handful of EBU delegates around Israel to scope out the potential venues in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and to hear the bid from Eilat. On 30 August 2018, Sand stated in an interview with KAN that Eilat was no longer in the running to host, leaving it between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. He also stated that there was no serious discussion among members of the EBU about boycotting the event.21 On 13 September 2018, the EBU announced Tel Aviv as the host city, with Expo Tel Aviv as the selected venue for the 2019 contest. Format Visual design The slogan for the contest, Dare to Dream, was unveiled on 28 October 2018.26 Its visual design was revealed on 8 January 2019 which features logo consisting of triangles forming a golden star. Along with the main version, there are two more alternative versions of the logo. The logo, brand and theme was created by Studio Adam Feinberg.27 Presenters On 25 January 2019, KAN announced that four presenters will host the three shows: TV hosts Erez Tal (who was also one of the Israeli commentators for the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 grand final) and Assi Azar who work for the Israeli Channel 12, supermodel Bar Refaeli, and KAN host Lucy Ayoub, who was also the Israeli spokesperson at the 2018 contest.28 Tal and Refaeli will be the main hosts, while Azar and Ayoub would be hosting the green room.29 Participating Countries The EBU announced on 7 November 2018 that forty-two countries would participate in the contest, with Bulgaria absent due to financial reasons.3233 On 27 February 2019, Ukraine announced its withdrawal from the contest, due to controversy around their national selection. This reduced the number of participating countries to 41.5 Semi-final 1 The first semi-final will take place on 14 May 2019 at 22:00 IDT (21:00 CEST).35 Seventeen countries will participate in the first semi-final. Those countries plus France, Israel and Spain will vote in this semi-final.36 Ukraine was originally allocated to participate in the second half of the semi-final, but withdrew from the contest due to controversy about its national selection. Split Results Semi-final 2 The second semi-final will take place on 16 May 2019 at 22:00 IDT (21:00 CEST).35 Eighteen countries will participate in the second semi-final. Those countries plus Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom will vote in this semi-final. Switzerland was pre-drawn into this semi-final due to scheduling issues.36 Split Results Other Countries Eligibility for potential participation in the Eurovision Song Contest requires a national broadcaster with active EBU membership that will be able to broadcast the contest via the Eurovision network. The EBU issued an invitation of participation in the contest to all fifty-six active members. The Israeli Minister of Communications Ayoob Kara has also invited countries from the Middle Eastern and North African region, with which Israel largely has tense relationships or no diplomatic relations. Kara pointed out Tunisia and the Gulf states Saudi Arabia as well as Dubai and Abu Dhabi as part of the United Arab Emirates.424344 Tunisia is eligible to participate but has not due to rules banning the promotion of Israeli content, while the Gulf states do not have national broadcasters with EBU membership. Split Results